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Re: Making a skep

The skep gets inspected from below for being ripe for harvesting. Ripe means, that all/most brood has hatched and little brood left. Only bees and honey can be found in the hive. (September/October)

(The pictures shows a weaker colony that stayed home, while the stronger ones were moved into the heather. Only the strongest hives go into the heather, because the hives do wear out in the heath.)

With a long knife or hive tool one can reach right into the combs, so you can push the combs apart and see what's going on inside.

The skep to harvest is put right onto a smaller and flat skep, that will hold the bees shaken out of the skep.

A rope goes round both skeps and rolled up in the hands, so both skeps are fixed to each other and can be lifted. Very carefull the skeps get shaken or thumped to the ground. This is an art. Too much thumping and bees, combs and all go down. Too little and the bees don't come out. In modern days car tires are used as a bumper to swing and shake out the bees.

Checking (virtually) if the bees already got down.

The harvest per hive is relatively small: about 5-10 kg of honey. (Cast swarms and all do not gather that much in their first year.)

The bees get shaken into new skeps. Several hives are combined to make strong colonies. Bees get some feed and they build a new nest to overwinter on in September/October!

Re: Making a skep

Wow, thanks for taking teh time to put those pics in your post. I had my own ideas on teh cow dung covering, and i think i would have ben diappointed with my results. I'll use the methods shown here! I also had not considred the challenges of feeding. The shear tonnage of what I do not yet know astounds me at times. Thanks again for sharing this information!

Re: Making a skep

At Springtime when swarming the beekeeper is posting in front of the skep stand and awaits the swarms. (between 10 am and 4 pm.)

While waiting for swarms the beekeeper repairs skeps and materials, making new skeps. Once the bees start running in bunches or circles on the head of the skep, thus indicating a swarm to be thrown soon, the swarm catching bag gets fixed to the skep right under the entrance. Then it gets flipped over the entrances and fixed firmly against the skep.

For the lower level hive some sort of a hay fork is used to lift up one end of the swarm bag.

For the upper storey a lath with a nail at it's end is used to lift the swarm catching bag.

Once the bees slow down on pouring out of the skep, the bag is removed, closed at the lower end and hang into the shade where it remains until the evening.

Re: Making a skep

The interesting detail on skep stands is, that the feet don't get sinked into the ground but instead sit on stones above the ground. The stands are made from frames with legs/feet as shown in the detail picture below. The frames connected with wooden boards the skeps stand on and the roof beams. (in the picture shown you see the skeps are sealed bee-tight with ropes at the bottom.

Not in the pictures: behind the skeps in the back, there is a laths on the floor board. It is used to stop the skeps from sliding backwards when tilting the skep to look beneath.

Re: Making a skep

Re: Making a skep

Originally Posted by Rick 1456

KP
Like the Mooshiners say, "It ain't illegal till you get caught." I've thought of doing similar myself. Here's what stops me. As far fetched as or unlikely it may be, it is my device, even though a swarm moved in, it is on my property with my knowledge, therefore, I assume responsibility for it. IF and WHEN, that hive gets AFB or EFB, and another bee keeper close enough by, suffers loss from AFB/EFB, more than likely, I could be held responsible for the losses. It is the law in Maryland. The term in courts that I've heard more than once, was, "Known, or should have known." Just the way I see it. BTW, I'd make Moonshine too, but with my luck, I'd be the one ATF would want to make the example of.
Love to see some pics,,,,,,,whoops,,,,,evidence,,,,
Rick

You can legally make as much moonshine as you want as long as you don't sell it.

Re: Making a skep

You can legally make as much moonshine as you want as long as you don't sell it.

As long as you don't drink it... It has to be for fuel purposes and they prefer it be toxic to humans even in that case. From ATF Q and A.

Spirits

You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying excise tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.